Soham Town Rangers 2 Erith and Belvedere 0
Soham were back to winning ways at the weekend after their shock loss to Wroxham to go joint top of the league.
Soham manager Steve Fallon celebrated picking up his second successive manager of the month award by watching his side comfortably beat Erith and Belvedere to draw level on points with league leaders VDC Athletic.
Soham bounced back from their shock defeat to league strugglers Wroxham in style as they managed to play some neat passing football despite the thick mud in the middle of the pitch.
Goals from Joey Abbs and Ben Sawyer were enough for all three points but with a bit more luck and a little less mud Soham could have finished off the game long before the 88th minute.
The first real effort fell early on to recalled George Darling whose tame header bounced straight into the keeper’s arms.
Soham dominated possession with Martin Bromwich, back in the midfield after a spell at centre-half, pulling the strings.
It was Bromwich who created the first after 24 minutes when he expertly picked out the run of Joey Abbs who let the ball run across to his left foot before shooting low into the far corner.
The wind really picked up in the second half and a bout of torrential rain led to the referee calling the players in nine minutes into the half.
The weather calmed and after a quick pitch inspection play continued.
James McCabe had the first chance to extend Soham’s lead, put through by an excellent pass from Darling, but a poor touch allowed to the keeper to snatch the ball from the full-back’s feet.
Luke Stanley then looked like he had kept his fine goal-scoring form going when he prodded past the keeper but the ball held up in the thick mud allowing the keeper to scramble back.
It was Sawyer who scored the decisive goal in the 88th minute when Stanley unselfishly squared the ball across for him to pass into an empty net.
Manager Fallon said: “One or two things didn’t go our way at Wroxham. No Simpson, new keeper, Buster wasn’t fit. These things add up but we bounced back and that was good.
“It sets us up for two very big games. We need to go there [VCD Athletic] and play our game.
“They’re not in magnificent form so we are confident we can go there and get a result but obviously we have to play well and certainly defensively we have to be at the top of our game.”
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